Open Source Database Routs Competition in New Benchmark Tests.

Business/Technology Editors

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NORFOLK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2000

PostgreSQL meets or exceeds speed and scalability of

proprietary database leaders, and

significantly surpasses open source competitors

PostgreSQL, the world's most advanced open source database, routed the competition in recent benchmark testing, topping the proprietary database leaders in industry-standard transaction-processing tests. PostgreSQL, also known as "Postgres," is an object-relational database management system (DBMS) that newly formed Great Bridge LLC will professionally market, service and support. Postgres also consistently outperformed open source competitors, including MySQL and Interbase, in the benchmark tests. Great Bridge will market Postgres-based open source solutions as a highly reliable and lower cost option for businesses seeking an alternative to proprietary databases.

On the ANSI SQL Standard Scalable And Portable (AS3AP) benchmark, a rudimentary information retrieval test that measures raw speed and scalability, Postgres performed an average of four to five times faster than every other database tested, including two major proprietary DBMS packages, the MySQL open source database, and Interbase, a formerly proprietary product which was recently made open source by Inprise/Borland. (See Exhibit 1)

In the Transaction Processing Council's TPC-C test, which simulates a real-world online transaction processing (OLTP) environment, Postgres consistently matched the performance of the two leading proprietary database applications. (See Exhibit 2) The two industry leaders cannot be mentioned by name because their restrictive licensing agreements prohibit anyone who buys their closed source products from publishing their company names in benchmark testing results without the companies' prior approval.

"The test results show that Postgres is a robust, well-built product that must be considered in the same category as enterprise-level competition," said Robert Gilbert, Great Bridge President and CEO. "Look at the trendlines in the AS3AP test: Postgres, like the proprietary leaders, kept a relatively consistent output level all the way up to 100 concurrent users -- and that output was four to five times faster than the proprietary products. Interbase and MySQL fell apart under heavy usage. That's a strong affirmation that Postgres today is a viable alternative to the market-leading proprietary databases in terms of performance and scalability --and the clear leader among open source databases."

The tests were conducted by Xperts Inc. of Richmond, Virginia, an independent technology solutions company, using Quest Software's Benchmark Factory application. Both the AS3AP and the TPC-C benchmarks simulated transactions by one to 100 simultaneous users in a client-server environment. One hundred concurrent users approximates the middle range of a traditional database user pool; many applications never see more than a few users on the system at any given time, while other more sophisticated enterprise platforms number concurrent users in the thousands. In a Web-based application, where the connection to the database is measured in milliseconds, 100 simultaneous users would represent a substantial load-the equivalent of 100 customers hitting the "submit" button on an order form at exactly the same time.

The AS3AP test measures raw database data retrieval power, showing an application's scalability, portability and ease of use and interpretation through the use of simple ANSI standard SQL queries. The TPC-C test simulates a warehouse distribution system, including order creation, customer payments, order status checking, delivery, and inventory management.

"What stood out for us was the consistent performance of Postgres, which stayed the same or tested better than those of the leading proprietary applications. Postgres performed consistently whether it was being used by one or 100 people," said Richard Brosnahan, senior software developer at Xperts.

Postgres is a standards-based object-relational SQL database designed for e-business and enterprise applications. The software is open source and freely owned, continuously augmented by a global collaborative community of elite programmers who volunteer their time and expertise to improve the product. In the last two years, with the introduction of versions 6.5 and 7.0 of the software, Postgres has seen rapid enhancement through a series of high-level refinements.

"Postgres' performance is a powerful affirmation of the open source method of development," said Gilbert of Great Bridge. "Hundreds, even thousands, of open source developers work on this software, demonstrating a rate of innovation and improvement that the proprietary competition simply can't match. And it's only going to get better."

A closer look

Xperts ran the benchmark tests on Compaq Proliant ML350 servers with 512 mb of RAM and two 18.2 Gb hard disks, equipped with Intel Pentium III processors and Red Hat Linux 6.1 and Windows NT operating systems. The company ensured the tests' consistency by using the same computers for each test, with each product connecting to the tests through its own preferred ODBC driver. While Benchmark Factory does provide native drivers for some commercial databases, using each product's own ODBC ensured the most valid "apples to apples" comparison.

In the AS3AP tests (Exhibit 1), PostgreSQL 7.0 significantly outperformed both the leading commercial and open source applications in speed and scalability. In the tested configuration, Postgres peaked at 1127.8 transactions per second with five users, and still processed at a steady rate of 1070.4 with 100 users. The proprietary leader also performed consistently, with a high of 314.15 transactions per second with eight users, which fell slightly to 288.37 transactions per second with 100 users. The other leading proprietary database also demonstrated consistency, running at 200.21 transactions per second with six users and 197.4 with 100.

The other databases tested against the AS3AP benchmarks, open source competitors MySQL 3.22 and Interbase 6.0, demonstrated some speed with a low number of users but a distinct lack of scalability. MySQL reached a peak of 803.48 with two users, but its performance fell precipitously under the stress of additional users to a rate of 117.87 transactions per second with 100 users. Similarly, Interbase reached 424 transactions per second with four users, but its performance declined steadily with additional users, dropping off to 146.86 transactions per second with 100 users.

"It's just astounding, and unexpected," said Xperts' Brosnahan of Postgres' performance. "I ran the test twice to make sure it was running right. Postgres is just a really powerful database."

In the TPC-C tests, Postgres performed neck and neck with the two leading proprietary databases. The test simultaneously runs five different types of simulated transactions; the attached graph of test results (Exhibit 2) shows steadily ascending intertwined lines representing all three databases, suggesting the applications scaled at comparable rates. With all five transactions running with 100 users, the three databases performed at a rate of slightly above five transactions per second.

"The TPC-C is a challenging test with five transactions running at once while querying against the database and the stress of a growing number of users. It showed that all the databases we tested handle higher loads very well, the way they should," Brosnahan explained.

Neither Interbase nor MySQL could be tested for TPC-C benchmarks. MySQL could not run the test because the application is not adequately compliant with minimal ANSI SQL standards set in 1992. Interbase 6.0, recently released as open source, does not have a stable ODBC driver yet; while Xperts was able to adapt the version 5 ODBC driver for the AS3AP tests, the TPC-C test would not run. "With MySQL it's an inherent design issue. Interbase 6 should run the TPC-C test, and perhaps would with tweaking of the test's code," said Brosnahan.

Great Bridge's Gilbert attributes Postgres' high performance to a quality differential that comes from the open source development process; the source code for Postgres has been subjected to years of rigorous peer review by some of the best programmers in the world, many of whom use the product in their work environments. "Great Bridge believes that Postgres is by far the most robust open source database available. These tests provide strong affirmation of that belief," he said. The company intends to work with hardware vendors and other interested parties to continue larger-scale testing of Postgres and other leading open source technologies.

About Great Bridge

Great Bridge LLC provides open source solutions powered by PostgreSQL, the world's most advanced open source database. Great Bridge delivers value-added open source software and support services based on PostgreSQL, empowering e-business builders with an enterprise-class database and tools at a fraction of the cost of closed, proprietary alternatives.

Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, Great Bridge is a privately held company funded by Landmark Communications, Inc., the media company that also owns The Weather Channel, weather.com, and national and international interests in newspapers, broadcasting, electronic publishing, and interactive media.

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